Synchronization in area-preserving maps: Effects of mixed phase space and coherent structures

Sasibhusan Mahata, Swetamber Das, and Neelima Gupte

Phys. Rev. E 93, 062212 – Published 10 June 2016

Abstract

The problem of synchronization of coupled Hamiltonian systems presents interesting features due to the mixed nature (regular and chaotic) of the phase space. We study these features by examining the synchronization of unidirectionally coupled area-preserving maps coupled by the Pecora-Caroll method. The master stability function approach is used to study the stability of the synchronous state and to identify the percentage of synchronizing initial conditions. The transient to synchronization shows intermittency with an associated power law. The mixed nature of the phase space of the studied map has notable effects on the synchronization times as is seen in the case of the standard map. Using finite-time Lyapunov exponent analysis, we show that the synchronization of the maps occurs in the neighborhood of invariant curves in the phase space. The phase differences of the coevolving trajectories show intermittency effects, due to the existence of stable periodic orbits contributing locally stable directions in the synchronizing neighborhoods. Furthermore, the value of the nonlinearity parameter, as well as the location of the initial conditions play an important role in the distribution of synchronization times. We examine drive response combinations which are chaotic-chaotic, chaotic-regular, regular-chaotic, and regular-regular. A range of scaling behavior is seen for these cases, including situations where the distributions show a power-law tail, indicating long synchronization times for at least some of the synchronizing trajectories. The introduction of coherent structures in the system changes the situation drastically. The distribution of synchronization times crosses over to exponential behavior, indicating shorter synchronization times, and the number of initial conditions which synchronize increases significantly, indicating an enhancement in the basin of synchronization. We discuss the implications of our results.